Oh well – my days of guessing political shenigans are over. Seems that the press release was for Howard to wax lyrical about his new environmental policy.
I haven’t read the opposition to the policy from environmental groups. Some quick thoughts – seems to be aimed at consumers, and yet around 90% of emissions are from industry, with power companies being the worst offenders. The plan does not seem to address that at all. We need to stop subsidising shale oil, and start getting renewable energy targets and real emission reductions from industry, not from consumers.
Secondly, it doesn’t involve ratifying the Kyoto protocol. ‘Nuff said. Howard will never sign it, mind you, but any environmental policy that doesn’t include this is really a strange thing. On that front, it’s clear that Howard isn’t signing because of one or both of two reasons: 1) He’s mates with Dubya and wants to tag along and 2) He hates multilateral agreements and bodies.
One last thought: a friend said last night “seems that Garrett’s appointment has Howard running scared”. I hadn’t thought of that… could be, though I don’t think that it would have that big an impact on him somehow.